Dark Phoenix: Into The Stranger Verse (Stranger Things)

CHAPTER 4

Chapter 4: Cool It, Hairspray

A WEEK has passed since the incident at the arcade.

After Jean established the fact that she had abilities, Hopper became even more clueless as to how to deal with the situation, but he knew for a fact that calling Dr. Owens; a man working for the government, wasn't for the girl's best interest.

The older man kindly offered her to stay until she managed to remember anything from her past, or at least she could function on her own. He just couldn't risk her being recaptured by whoever did this to her.

Rigorous practice ensued, endless stares and attempts at moving objects from far away came to no fruition at Eleven's guidance. So El thought of another method.

"Okay, focus."

"Don't you kids have studying to do?" Jean asked the group of teens that comprised of Mike, Lucas, Max, Dustin, Will, and of course, El. They'd all come over after school to 'help' her.

"I said focus." Mike repeated, slightly on edge with the lack of results.

"Jeez, don't be so cranky." Jean teased the frowning younger boy, occasionally glancing at El who was smiling encouragingly at her.

Eleven relied on her friends' help; despite being the only one among them with abilities, she was the least capable of explaining on how to do these thing, because they came so naturally to her.

The party believed they got this covered and that it would be easy to help her train, due to their infinite knowledge of superheros and comic books. But it has shown to be rather difficult.

"Just try to move the pen." Lucas insisted in a commanding tone.

As per instructions, Jean Grey brought her green eyes to stare at the pen that rested on the dinning table. She narrowed her eyes in focus, trying to will the object to move. Still, nothing happened.

"Is anything happening?" Jean sarcastically asked, noticing that her attempts were futile.

"Keep trying." Dustin urged, his fingers resting against his chin.

"But I don't-"

"Think about how you want it to move." Mike added.

"Okay, okay, but do I stare really hard? Am I supposed to...move my hand?" The whole process was alien to her, but after a long period of trying, Jean managed to find the humor in the situation. So she laughed at her own question, Max quickly joining her from where she sat across the table.

After the laughter slowly ceased, the younger oranged haired girl felt goosebumps creeping the back of her neck, so she turned around, surprised to see El glaring at her. The two girls weren't close, it was no lie. Maxine never understood why Eleven disliked her from the very beginning, but after a while they became a bit... friendly but still not as Max had hoped at first. Now she didn't know why El was being hostile all over again. Little did she know, it was because she was being territorial over Jean, just like she was with Mike.

Unnoticing the tension that draped over the other two girls, Jean let out another short chortle. "I look and feel ridiculous."

"Just keep trying."

Face scrunched at their persistence, Jean released a playful hiss. "You guys are super invested in this. Why?"

Mike knew his reason, looking to El who stood on his right, to put her mind at ease, he'd promised to help the redhead and he would. "We're just trying to help you, Jean. You can't give up that easily, it's not right."